


How was your summer?

by TyjoBeans



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Dark Past, Friendship, I use way too many commas, I will add tags as I go, Mention of abuse, Not sure though, Past Abuse, Swear Words, friendship fluff, im sorry, josh dun - Freeform, might be a little bit of joshler later on, mostly best friend love, twenty one pilots - Freeform, tyler joseph - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-24
Packaged: 2018-08-16 02:43:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8083522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TyjoBeans/pseuds/TyjoBeans
Summary: Everybody knows who Tyler Joseph is. He's the guy who had been all over the news a year back because his mother had been fucked up enough to keep him locked up in the basement.





	1. Chapter 1

Everybody knows who Tyler Joseph is. He's the guy who had been all over the news a year back because his mother had been fucked up enough to keep him locked up in the basement.  
Josh remembers seeing pictures of him on the news and reporters talking about how it was a miracle that someone found him, that he wasn't dead. He remembers seeing footage of unconscious twenty year old Tyler Joseph being taken from his house and into an ambulance.

Josh's family followed the story through the TV.

They would sit in front of the screen and gasp and talk in hushed voices about how terrible it was and how it was unthinkable that someone could do such a thing. Josh had felt sorry for the guy, of course, but hadn't really thought more of it than that. Terrible things happened all the time and it wasn't like he could do anything to change that.

They talked about it at school. Probably because it was such a local tragedy, the guy was from Columbus after all.  
The teachers asked the students to write a short letter about how they felt, what they would want to tell Tyler if they got to meet him. A big, bulky, popular guy from Josh's class named Toby wrote that he would put him back in his mother's basement and laughed about it. He got sent to the principals office.

  
Josh wrote that he would give Tyler a hug if he wanted one, because that's what you were supposed to do if someone was sad, right? He wrote that he would bring him tea because it was a nice thing to do and that he would let him be player one if he wanted to play a video game. He knew that he was probably supposed to write about how he would help him track down his mother who the police still hadn't found or something like that, but to Josh video games and tea sounded much nicer.

Of course, it was old news by now. Nobody cared about Tyler Joseph anymore. Nobody on the news talked about him, there were no pictures of the terrified-looking boy on the TV and no interviews where he refused to talk. Nobody talked about him.

Until one day, they did.

The first time Josh had heard about it had been in school. Two jocks had talked in the corridor and Josh just happened to be within hearing distance.  
"You remember that Joseph kid?"  
"The basement freak? What about him?"  
Both of them were leaning against a wall, probably waiting for their next class to start.  
"Apparently he's coming back to Columbus. They're searching for a foster home for the guy right now so he has somewhere to stay. My mom signed us up,"  
The other one made a grimace that Josh failed to read.  
"Dude, that's fucked up" he answered after a while.  
The other hummed as his eyes followed some girl who walked passed them.  
"If they force me to live with him I'll punch him so hard he'll be wishing he was back with his mom"  
They both laughed at that.

Josh kind of wanted to tell them that it was rude and that they were being jerks, but he quickly figured that it would do no good and instead turned his attention back to the math problem that he was supposed to solve.

The second time Josh heard about it was when he came home that very same day. Josh still lived with his mother and father and all of his siblings. He had thought about attending college in another town, maybe even another state, just so that he could move away from home, but had ended up staying in his hometown, so there weren't really a reason for him to get a place of his own just yet.

His parents were in the kitchen, talking with hushed voices that were only used when they were discussing something serious. They both turned to their eldest kid as he entered and waved at him to join them with gentle smiles.

  
"What's up?" Josh grabbed a red apple from the fruit bowl on the table and took a bite before leaning against the counter, chewing slowly.  
His mother wore a nervous smile that he rarely got to see.  
"Sweetie... Do you remember a kid named Tyler Joseph?"  
Josh raised an eyebrow and nodded.  
"Well, he's coming back to Columbus. Apparently he wanted to go to college here," she started, pausing as if she wanted Josh to say something.

  
It got quiet for a few, long seconds before he picked up on the hint and quickly swallowed what he had been chewing.  
"Oh, uhm- cool"  
"And he needs somewhere to stay. His...," a brief pause played out as his mother searched for the right word, "past," she finally settled on, "isn't the best and he can't live on his own or in a college dorm."  
Josh hummed and took another bite of his apple.  
"And now," he began to talk with his mouth full before he swallowed, "you wanna invite him to live here, right?"  
His mother nodded.

Josh turned towards his dad with a raised eyebrow.  
"And you're okay with this?"  
The older man shrugged.  
"It will be... A big change" he started, obviously careful with his words.  
"But your mother thinks that it's the right thing to do."  
"Because it is!" she added. "We have money and room for him, it would be very selfish of us to not offer him a home."

  
Josh nodded slowly as he thought it over. It would, just like his father said, be kind of a big change, having a stranger live with them. They had no idea who this Tyler guy was. The only thing Josh knew for sure was his name and that he was the same age as him, and that he had grown up locked away from any human contact. What if that had made him into some kind of freak that would kill them in their sleep? Besides, where would he sleep?-  
"- we don't have a spare room" Josh thought out loud.

His mother fiddled a little bit with her cream coloured blouse and cleared her throat before she spoke. "We were thinking that he could sleep in your room." Her voice was soft and calm but had a slight undertone that told Josh that he had nothing to say in the matter, so he simply nodded instead.  
"Besides," she quickly added, "this doesn't guarantee that he will be living with us, there's a list that people can sign and then he gets to choose where he wants to stay."  
Josh nodded again and finished off his apple.  
"Alright, do whatever you want" he shrugged before leaving the kitchen and headed up the stairs and to his room.

He looked around and tried to imagine having to share it with a stranger. It wasn't a very big room, simple with soft blue walls and a white ceiling. In one corner stood his bed and opposite to that stood his beloved drums that he had worked hard for, sacrificing his last six summer breaks for work to be able to afford them. His parents had been mad at him for it - they didn't understand his love for an instrument that, for them, only made a bunch of noise - but since he payed for them with his own money he got to keep them. In order to fit another bed into the room he would have to move the drum set, probably down to the basement. And he would never get any alone time, which would suck too.

His thoughts started to wander back to the fact that this kid had no social training what so ever since a year back and that maybe this had turned him dangerous somehow. What if he would try and stab Josh with a fork during dinner, or claw his eyes out while he was sleeping. What if he looked through all of Josh's stuff without permission or used his drums without asking.

"Nah, you're thinking way too deeply into this, Dun" he mumbled to himself and sat down behind the drums, gently tapping the snare with his index fingers.

"No way he'll choose us, there's probably a bunch of people signing that list."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations, you made it through the whole thing! 
> 
> I'm sorry that the first chapter was so uneventful. I really don't wanna rush things in the story and I felt like the first chapter could be more of a long introduction of some sort. It's not hard to figure out where the plot is going, huh? But I promise that there's more to it than what meets the eye! 
> 
> This is my first attempt at writing a fanfic, so please be gentle with me. I have the whole story planned out but I wanted to post the first chapter and see if anyone would like it before I wrote more. Please tell me your thoughts on it in the comments and let me know what you liked and didn't like about it! 
> 
> I also wanna apologise for any mistakes in the text. English isn't my native languish and I haven't really written anything since I graduated school almost four years ago. 
> 
> I've noticed that most fics have around 1000 words per chapter so that's what I'm going for, but what do you guys think? Should the next chapter be longer or is it good like this? Let me know!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

They started talking about it on the news.  
People on the TV told story's about how twenty year old Tyler Joseph had been found in his home, chained to a wall and on the brink of death. Newspapers started writing about how twenty-one year old Tyler Joseph was on his way back to his hometown in Columbus, Ohio after having spent a year in a hospital in New York. No one had any new footage of the guy and apparently he refused to do interviews, so instead they would show old pictures of him taken on the way out of the house or in the hospital when he was still unconscious.  
Josh felt bad for the guy. If something like that would happen to him, he wouldn't want people taking pictures of him with tubes down his throat and up his nose and blood and dirt still on his face.

Tyler's hair was cut short in the pictures, buzzed all the way to his scalp and doing nothing to hide the many different bruises that littered his face. His eyes were closed, long eyelashes so wet with tears that even the camera picked up on it and he looked like a walking skeleton with harsh cheekbones and an even sharper jaw, nose swollen and probably broken. Josh remembers when he broke his nose by falling off his skateboard, shuddering at the memory of the pain. The bridge of his nose still had a small bump that wouldn't go away.  
He wondered if Tyler's had one, too.

The rumours spread like wildfire at Josh's college. Everyone was talking about how Tyler Joseph was going to go to their school. Some students gossiped about what they thought that he would look like now. They whispered about how the police still hadn't found his mother and how brave he was to come back here after only a year. Some talked about how stupid it all was, that people were making it into a big deal.

"So what if the kid got beat up a few times? I bet he made the whole thing up for fame," a guy scoffed one day.  
He was sitting with a few friends on the bench in front of Josh out by the football field where most students spent their lunch break.  
"I don't know, bro. The pictures looked kinda real" said another.  
The first one waved a hand in the air carelessly as he blew a raspberry.  
"Even if it is real, he probably deserved it."

Josh was actually about to speak up this time around, but a gentle hand on his shoulder stopped him just as he opened his mouth. He looked to his left where his best friend, a guy who he met in high school named Mark, sat. He shook his head.  
"Dude, don't get yourself involved over someone you don't even know" Mark whispered before shoving a big bite of his burger into his mouth.  
Josh huffed and took a rather aggressive bite out of his sandwich, chewing slowly as he tried to stare holes into the other guys necks, squinting his eyes at them.

A few minutes later the group got up and left and Josh turned to his friend.  
"Someone should teach those guys how to behave" he said before plopping the last bit of his turkey sandwich into his mouth.  
"Yeah, well-" Mark began to talk with his mouth full, "-that someone doesn't have to be you."   
He poked Josh in the chest for good measure. 

Josh took a sip of his friend's soda, earning himself a smack on the shoulder.  
"It's not like anyone else is gonna do it, what if this Tyler guy heard someone talk like that about him?" he huffed, "try putting yourself in his shoes."  
Mark hummed as he finished his food and snatched his drink back, downing it in two big gulps.  
"Look, it's awful and all that-" he started, "but it's been a year since it happened. The only reason why people are talking about him again is because he's moving back, they'll forget about it in a week or two I'm sure."

Josh nodded slowly. He had to admit that Mark had a pretty good point. The school year was almost over and summer had already arrived. By the end of the week the students would be free from their studies for over two months, allowed to enjoy the summer and to gather some energy for the upcoming new semester. Tyler Joseph would arrive any day now according to the newspapers, but he would have ten weeks to get settled in in the city before he joined the rest of the students to start a new year at the end of summer. People would probably forget all about it during the break and by the time school started back up, no one would care anymore.

"When are they gonna announce who he's staying at?" Mark asked. He knew that Josh's mother had signed them up as volunteers.  
"Oh," Josh said, trying to remember what his mom had told him, "I think it's today actually."  
Mark nodded.  
"And you're okay with that? Like, if your house gets chosen," he asked.  
Josh took up his phone and started to check his Twitter feed as he hummed.  
"Sure," he said with a shrug without lifting his gaze from the phone screen, "I mean... It would be kinda annoying to share a room with a total stranger and what not, but if the guy needs help and we can provide it, we should, you know?"

Just as Mark opened his mouth to reply, Josh's phone started to vibrate, startling both of them and almost causing Josh to drop it. His mother's number flashed on the screen and Josh pressed the green button to answer the call.  
"Hi sweetheart, how's your day going?" her cheerful voice greeted him.  
"I'm good, mom. I'm having lunch right now," Josh held the phone between his ear and shoulder, "what's up?"  
Mark leaned closed in an attempt to hear what was being said on the other line.

"Well," Laura started, "I just got a call, and apparently Tyler Joseph chose our house."  
Josh almost choked on his own saliva.  
"What?!" he shrieked, "why on earth would he do that?!"  
As soon as he said it he regretted it, and when he heard his mother's sharp intake of breath he regretted it even more.  
"Joshua William Dun! Why are you reacting so badly to this? You are being such a selfish brat right now and I did not raise you to be this close-minded!"   
Josh flinched at her harsh words and gave Mark a glare as his friend tried to contain his giggles, failing quite miserably at it.  
"No, I didn't mean it like that," Josh insisted, searching his mind for some kind of excuse, "it just surprised me! I'm okay with this, I promise."  
"Well," his mother's voice was stern, "you better be, because he'll probably be here by the time you get home and you are going to be nice to this boy, you understand?" She left no room for argument.

Josh rolled his eyes, something that he would never dare to do in front of his mother. This "boy" she was talking about was a twenty-one year old man, born the same year as Josh, and she made it sound like he was some five year old that needed a babysitter.  
"It'll be fine, mom. I'll make him feel real welcome, alright?"   
"Good," she said, any and all trace of sternness gone, "I'll see you in a few hours, I love you."  
"Love you too, mom."   
Mark gently smacked his bicep, gaining his attention, and waved a hand. "Oh, and Mark says hi."

They shared some last goodbyes and as soon as the line died, Josh let out a heavy sigh.   
Mark put an arm around his shoulders, grinning.

"Well, good luck with that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we go! Chapter 2 is fresh out of the oven. 
> 
> Please leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this chapter. Was it good? was it bad? 
> 
> Oh, and I promise you; Tyler will arrive in the next chapter which should be out soon, so don't you worry your angsty little heart about that!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and I'd really apriciate a comment or a kudo if you liked it! <3


	3. Chapter 3

On his way home from school (after making a promise to Mark that he would let him know just how much of a head case Tyler Joseph was) Josh's phone vibrated and a notification plopped up on the screen. He had gotten an email from his mother that had a file and a short text simply stating "read this before coming home."

Josh opened the file and it took a few, long moments before his phone had loaded it completely. In it was a document with the title "Tyler Joseph".

He started to skim through a short introduction that told him a little bit about his new roommate, pulling a hand through his once-red-now-turning-orange hair. Scrolling down a bit he noticed a list. "Triggers for Tyler and what you should avoid" it stated.

The list was long.

"Sudden noises, the smell of cooked meat, having to make decisions," Josh read out loud to himself. He started chewing on his lip, a bad habit that usually ended with a taste of iron in his mouth.

He kept reading the list as he wondered how on earth he would be able to remember all of this. Dogs barking, tight spaces, absolutely no touching... the list went on. Somewhere in the middle it changed from things that could trigger him to words or phrases. Being called "boy", "whore", "slut"... that list was quite long as well.

It didn't take long before Josh's head started to spin and he closed the email, feeling like he wouldn't remember it either way. It basically just told him to walk on eggshells around Tyler. A lot of changes indeed.

He didn't really know what to expect once he got home, but when he stepped through the door everything seemed so... normal. His mother was in the kitchen, cooking something that smelled like vegetable soup. His father was in the living room, watching some boring program that made jokes that Josh never laughed at. He guessed that his siblings were either in their rooms or at their friends houses. He took his shoes off before stepping into the kitchen and walked up to his mother. He gave her a peck on the cheek, mostly because he still felt bad about how he had reacted over the phone earlier.

"It smells really good, mom," Josh said as he stirred the soup on the stove, trying to name the different vegetables in there. The only one he could identify was carrots, and was that onion?

"It's dinner in an hour or so," she said, offering her son a smile. She added some spices to the water based food before dusting her hands off. "Tyler is upstairs in your room, unpacking," she said, "you should go and introduce yourself."

Josh thought for a brief second of asking his mom about Tyler, what he was like and what he could expect. Then he remembered that his mother was a woman without simple answers and figured that she'd probably just tell him to see for himself. So, without another word, he started to walk up the stair and towards his room.

Josh had absolutely no idea what to expect. He thought about the pictures he had seen, trying to imagine what the guy had been through. He was probably afraid, listening to Josh's steps as he walked down the short corridor. Josh could see it before him; Tyler with buzzed hair sitting against a wall, hugging his legs. Skinny as a skeleton and all sharp edges and eyes screwed shut.

Josh decided that he would keep a distance between him and the stranger. The list of triggers had mentioned human contact after all, so that meant no handshaking or hugs. He stopped outside of his door and took a deep breath, feeling more nervous than what he thought he would.

Quickly, like ripping a bandage, so that he couldn't change his mind, he opened the door.

The first thing that he was met by was the sight of someone's back, standing over a suitcase that was on top of a bed that hadn't been in Josh's room before. His drums were nowhere to be found.

The person jumped at the sound of the door and Josh realised way too late that he had already screwed it up. He should've knocked on the door, asked if it was okay to enter, maybe introduced himself through the door before opening it or something. He prepared himself for a scream, or for the person to start crying or something, but it never came.

No, the sound that filled the room next were giggles. Short, little laughs that almost made Josh want to laugh himself. Tyler turned around, holding a hand over his heart and looked at Josh with a big grin.

"Jeez," he said, voice indescribable to Josh. It was smooth and raspy at the same time, almost sounding strained and like he was about to cry at any given moment but also filled with happiness. "You scared the heck out of me," he continued with another light laugh.

The stranger before him looked nothing like the photos. Where Josh expected to see a sharp jaw, edged cheekbones and crooked nose were soft shapes. Cheeks round and tinted pink, smooth skin sun kissed and already turning a darker shade due to the summer heat. The nose had no signs of once being broken like Josh's did, but was small with a soft curve before ending in a round tip. Where Josh expected to see buzzed hair was a head full of thick, slightly wavy locks, cut shorter on the sides and kept a little longer on top.

Yeah, the person standing before him looked nothing like the photos, but it was unmistakably Tyler Joseph.

Tyler took two long steps towards him and offered a hand. It took a second too long for Josh to register that he was supposed to shake it and for a moment Tyler seemed almost embarrassed and started to lower it again before Josh's brain caught up and quickly took it in his, giving it a gentle shake. Tyler offered him a shy smile before he started talking in his raspy-but-soft voice again. "You're Josh, right? Your dad told me that we would be sharing rooms," he said, rubbing his neck with a apologetic grimace. "Sorry for totally invading your life."

Josh blinked at him a few times. He had prepared himself for many different things Tyler could do; kick him, scream, cry, lock himself in the bathroom... Being a totally normal guy was not one of them.

"Oh," Josh said, "it's fine, dude, mi casa su casa, and all that." Tyler grinned a little bit at that and nodded. He went back to his suitcase, apparently being in the middle of unpacking clothes. "Still, I feel like a total dipcrap for forcing myself into your room like this," he said over his shoulder as he held up a t-shirt with a bunch of colourful Mickey Mouse heads on it.

Tyler was still a pretty skinny guy, with lanky arms and long legs, but he looked healthy compared to what Josh had imagined.

"It's fine," Josh sat down on his own bed with a quiet huff and crossed his legs criss cross applesauce, "I have no problem sharing. How long are you planning on staying?"

Tyler's shoulders rose and fell in a shrug as he walked across the room with a pile of shirts in his arms. He started to carefully place them in an empty drawer in Josh's wardrobe. "Not sure," he said without pausing his task, "totally depends on when my psychiatrist thinks that I can handle living on my own." Another shrug.

Josh hummed as he fished his phone out of his pocket. He opened a text conversation with Mark and started to write a quick message.

_From: Josh_

_To: Asshole_

_Sent: 05.23_

_"Tyler Joseph is a totally normal guy"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another update! I will probably not update this often in the future, but I was just so excited to see what you guys thought about Josh's and Tyler's first meeting! Was it what you expected? Was it the complete opposite? Did you like it or hate it? Please, please, please, please let me know in a comment and maybe leave kudos? 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading <3


	4. Chapter 4

Tyler is actually a really nice guy, Josh decided after a few minutes of small talk. He was a little awkward at times, saying stuff that didn't make much sense, like described feelings with colours or comparing normal objects with smells that Josh had never thought about, but at least he was creative.

"Hey," Josh said as Tyler pulled a grey hoodie over his head, having said that he was cold even though it was summer time outside and Josh was kind of sweating in his loose fitted tank top, "I have a hoodie just like that one."

A blush spread over Tyler's cheeks and across the bridge of his nose and suddenly he looked ten times smaller, hands shivering as he brought them up to wrap his arms around himself.

"I'm sorry" he mumbled, "Laura said that I could borrow it... I should have asked you first."

Josh blinked a few times as a dread filled his stomach. "Hey, it's alright," he said as he stood up from the bed. He took a few steps towards his new roommate but stopped at a safe distance. The last thing Tyler needed right now was to feel trapped, right? "You can have it, I don't mind."

Tyler's gaze abandoned the floor as he shyly looked up at Josh, lower lip trapped between his teeth. For a moment Josh was afraid that Tyler would have a panic attack or something, but to his relief he seemed to relax a bit after a few deep breaths. He stopped hugging himself and let one arm hang by his side, while the other was brought up to pull a hand through his hair, messing it up a little.

"Sorry," he mumbled again, not referring to the hoodie anymore. Josh gave him a reassuring smile and shook his head. "It's fine," he said, "I totally get it."

Tyler nodded once and offered a strained smile.

The thick shirt pretty much swallowed him whole, being a few sizes too big on Josh and defiantly too big for Tyler's small frame. His hands were almost completely hidden in the sleeves, the only thing sticking out being his fingertips and it hung loosely a few inches underneath his hips.

Now that Josh thought about it, Tyler looked more like a fifteen year old than a twenty-one year old. His chin was completely smooth, eyelashes long and almost feminine and eyes big and dark.

Now, Josh wasn't exactly a macho-man himself. People often told him that he was a pretty guy with soft features and there wasn't really anything intimidating about the way he looked, but compared to Tyler he was a badass. Tyler was all round shapes. Round eyes, softly curved nose, full lips, chubby cheeks... It still amazed Josh that this was the same guy he had seen on the news a year back.

A kind of awkward silence filled the room for a few, short seconds before Josh's mom called them down for dinner. To Josh's surprise Tyler walked next to him on their way down, shoulders almost touching. He knew that touches were a trigger for Tyler, but maybe it was okay if he was the one to start them or something. He shook Josh's hand earlier after all. Josh decided to not bring it up.

When the duo entered the kitchen Josh's parents and siblings were already there. Tyler stopped a few feet away from the table, looking a little lost.

"Tyler dear," Laura said with a sweet voice, making him jump slightly of surprise, "sit down."

He flashed the older woman a nervous smile and seemed to be eyeing both free spots, pulling his eyebrows together in a slight frown. Josh faintly remembered reading something about him having trouble making decisions on his own, so he pulled out one of the chairs and sat down, leaving only one option left for Tyler, which he took.

When all were seated they bowed their heads in a quick prayer before everyone started to dig in. Only the sound of spoons agains bowls filled the air for a couple of minutes.

Josh's brother, Jordan, who was a few years younger than Josh and Tyler was the first one to break the silence.

"So, Tyler," he said, putting his spoon down for a moment, "what's it like to be back?"

Tyler, who hadn't really began eating yet and mostly used his spoon to stir his soup around, looked up at the mention of his name. It took a few seconds for him to answer. Josh noticed that he tended to think his words through carefully before speaking.

"I don't know if I can count it as being back," he said, "I never left the house and when I got out I was pretty much unconscious. It's like I'm experiencing it for the first time."

One of Josh's sisters, Ashley, peaked up at that. "Then why did you wanna come back her-"

"-Ashley!" Laura interrupted in a stern voice.

"It's fine," Tyler insisted, "I just felt like I had been missing out on my hometown, so I wanted to come back to at least see it."

That actually made a lot of sense. Josh would be lying if he said that he hadn't thought that it was weird that Tyler wanted to go back, but he could kind of understand where he was coming from. He had probably spent his whole life wondering about what was outside of the walls of his house, and now he got to see it.

"Wait," Josh said as he turned his head to look at him, "you got accepted to my collage, right?"

Tyler nodded, looking a little confused and tilted his head sideways, waiting for Josh to continue.

"But if you were locked up all your life-"

"-Joshua!"

Josh raised a hand to quiet his mother's protests and then cringed a little when he saw her face. If Tyler hadn't been by the table he would've probably gotten an ear full for doing such a thing.

"-how can you have the grades to apply for collage? Like, can you read and stuff?"

It was a question that had been bothering Josh for a while because he knew for a fact that Tyler hadn't gone to school as a kid and it seemed pretty impossible that he would've been able to learn all that he needed to know in just a year. Besides, Josh doubted that Tyler had spent his first year in freedom reading books and learning about history.

Tyler hummed around his first spoon full of soup, pressing his lips firmly around the metal and swallowed the food quickly. He pulled the spoon out of his mouth with a 'pop'.

"Mom homeschooled me," he waved the spoon around in his hands, "not in everything of course, but I'm pretty good at math and I write a lot. Apparently that was enough for me to get accepted into collage. My psychiatrist also thought that it would 'be good for my mental health'," Tyler made air-quotes with his hands, "to be around people my own age, so I guess they took that into consideration."

Abigail, Josh's other sister, furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"But I thought your mom only tortured you, why would she homeschool you?"

Laura gasped at her daughters words and smacked her hand. Josh kicked her leg under the table and gave her a glare.

"That's enough questions for one dinner, don't you all agree?" Laura stated, not really leaving any room for argument.

They all finished their meals in tense silence.

Josh didn't see Tyler take another bite of his food for the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another update! 
> 
> I'm not really happy with this chapter, but ehh. I wrote it so I thought that I might as well post it.
> 
> What do you guys think? Should the story move faster? Slower? Should the chapters be longer? Let me know!
> 
> Please leave a comment letting me know what you think so far. And kudos always makes me happy. 
> 
> Thanks for reading <3


	5. Chapter 5

After dinner Tyler followed Josh like a dog on a leash, and to Josh's surprise he didn't really mind all that much.

Sure, maybe Tyler had some problems - rightfully so - but he was a nice guy and something about his appearance made Josh feel like he just wanted to give him a hug and keep him safe.

Maybe it was his puppy-like eyes.

They were currently in Josh's - no, their -bedroom, Josfh sitting on his bed while Tyler occupied the floor space in the middle of the room, which to Josh seemed very uncomfortable without anything to lean back against or soft to sit on, but for some reason Tyler didn't seem to mind.

Josh was trying to get some homework done, it was his last assignment before summer break, but had a hard time concentrating. Tyler was writing something down in a small book with dark brown leather covering, tongue sticking out between his lips in concentration every once in a while.

"Wanna play a game or something?" Josh asked.

Tyler jumped a little at the sudden noise, surprised that a sound had been made after nearly an hour of silence except for the sound of pens scraping against paper. He looked up at Josh with big eyes.

"What kind of game?"

Josh shrugged, mumbling a quick "I dunno" and grabbed his WiiU controller, starting the console and opened his library, showing Tyler the selections of games.

"Have you played Mario Cart before?" Josh asked, stopping at the game.

"No," Tyler shook his head and barely caught the controller that was thrown at him.

"It's easy," Josh said, "we drive around a track and collect different types of powers that we can use on each other, and whoever finishes three laps first wins."

|-/

Josh smashed his controller into the mattress and threw himself onto his back like a child when Tyler, two hours later, won his sixth race in a row.

"There's absolutely no way you've never played this before!" he cried out into the ceiling.

Tyler's giggles filled the room and Josh turned his head to shoot him a glare, but found it to be impossible when he saw Tyler laughing on the floor. Tyler laughed with his whole body, clutching a hand over his heart while the other arm snaked around his midsection as he gently leaned forward, his body shaking with a kind of hiccup sounding laughter. His cheeks were a little red and his hair was messier than before, dark brown locks sticking up in every direction. The sight of him along with the sound of his very weird, very charming laughter cause Josh to laugh as well, throwing his head back.

"Dude," Tyler said once he had settled down a little, wiping a fake tear from his eye, "you're just really bad."

A grin spread across his face and Josh stuck his tongue out towards him. "Whatever dude."

"Up for another round?" Tyler asked, already in the middle of choosing what cup he wanted to play next.

"Nah man," Josh said, giving Tyler a apologetic smile as he checked the time on his phone, "it's almost midnight and I gotta go to school tomorrow."

"Oh."

Tyler looked a little disappointed but didn't say anything about it and gave Josh the controller.

"When's the end of the semester?" he asked as he stretched his arms above his head.

"Friday, only two days to go," Josh cheered. He really couldn't wait for some time off. Josh had applied for a few jobs this summer, feeling like he should have something to do and earn some money in the meantime, but hadn't heard back from any of the places and decided that he deserved a completely free summer since he had worked on every summer break since he was fifteen.

Tyler explained that he wanted some privacy to change ("no offence bro, but could you please leave for like a minute?") so Josh figured that he could brush his teeth instead of just wait around outside of his room.

Once he got back Tyler was already in his bed with his blanket pulled up to his armpits.

Josh almost started sweating just by looking at him, dressed in a long sleeved shirt and surrounded by pillows and blankets. He hoped that he didn't have pants on too.

"Aren't you, like, burning up right now? It's summertime dude," Josh asked as he stepped out of his pants and pulled his shirt over his head, curly red hair and orange strands sticking everywhere.

Unlike Tyler, Josh wasn't shy and didn't mind changing in front of people. He flopped down onto his back in the bed and pulled his blanket over one leg, not because he needed warmth but because he couldn't sleep without a blanket somewhere on his body, it just didn't feel right.

"No way dude," Tyler said, pulling his blanket up even further, only having his head stick out, "besides, it's way more comfy this way."

"Whatever you say, man," Josh chuckled and turned off the lights.

It was quiet for a few moments and Josh allowed his mind to wander like it always did when he was trying to sleep.

"I'm not your man, guy," Tyler's quiet voice could be heard in the darkness. Josh jumped onto the idea quickly.

"I'm not your guy, buddy."

"I'm not your buddy, bro."

"I'm not your bro, homie."

"I'm not your homie, -," a brief pause played out, "uhm..."

Josh started laughing at Tyler's failed attempt to come up with something.

"Darn," Tyler giggled, "well, I still totally crushed you in Mario cart so who's the real loser here, huh?"

Josh grinned into the darkness. "You could've said 'friend'," he suggested and Tyler giggled.

"Whatever dude. Goodnight."

Josh smiled a little to himself and turned so that he was laying on his side instead, back turned to the wall.

"Goodnight."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally another chapter! Sorry it took so long to update. I had the first eight chapters written on my phone, but sadly it broke and I had to get a new one so now I have to re-write everything! 
> 
> I'm having a really bad day and I don't have access to my medicine because I was stupid enough to leave it at home, but I nope that it doesn't show through this chapter.
> 
> Please leave a comment and thank you for reading <3


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